The present invention relates to a laser apparatus and, more particularly, to an improved laser apparatus having an optical pumping arrangement for providing pumping energy for a laser medium which comprises a reflector with a highly reflective inner surface which defines an elliptical cavity and along a focal line of the ellipse formed by which a laser medium and a pumping source are each located.
As is well-known, laser instrumentation devices are available for medical treatment of a living organism, hemostasis or coagulation through the application of laser emission thereto. Even more particularly, it is possible greatly to improve the medical availability of laser instrumentation devices by applying laser emission to the living body through an endoscope.
But it is necessary to make sure that laser emission does no harm to the human body. Therefore, various kinds of measures are taken to ensure the safety of living bodies. The safety measures against laser emission have, however, been taken on the assumption that laser emission is always provided without any abnormality such as an unexpected decline of laser emission or a discontinuation of laser emission which is harmful for, in particular, a human body.
During the application of a laser instrumentation device to a human body, the human body is exposed to various dangers and there may even be jeopardy to life. Therefore, in order to deal with an emergency, it is necessary to perform a surgical operation in a conventional way. One of important causes from which an unexpected decline or discontinuation of laser emission arises is that a pumping source for exciting the laser medium is functionally deteriorated or has broken down. In such a case, if the pumping source can be immediately changed to provide pumping energy, the human body under treatment or surgical operation will be protected to some extent from fatal dangers. However, such immediate changing of the pumping source is next to impossible for personnel engaged in the surgical operation as a result of the medically unacceptable time delay until the discovery that an unexpected decline or discontinuation of laser emission has taken place in the pumping source. Even if it is possible to find the fact in a time medically allowed, it is, as a matter of fact, difficult to change the pumping source because of the solidly built laser apparatus in consideration of the safety of operators and of the laser apparatus itself. On the other hand, the fact that the pumping source does not frequently burn out or decline in output energy makes it difficult to predict a functional deterioration of the pumping source. This makes it ordinarily unnecessary to provide a spare pumping source in operation. Consequently, in an emergency, the patient is in considerable danger.